


Allies Once More

by aislingyngaio



Category: Heroes of the Storm (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-21
Updated: 2015-05-21
Packaged: 2018-03-30 15:16:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3941590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aislingyngaio/pseuds/aislingyngaio
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once, they were allies during the Battle of Mount Hjyal. Now they are allies in a battle for a strange new world. Written for Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta week of 12-18 May 2015.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Allies Once More

**Author's Note:**

> Because the week of 12-18 May 2015 had both Jaina and Thrall in the Free Hero Rotation, I kept seeing Thrall and Jaina on the same side over and over again, and my Thrall/Jaina BroTP heart simply melted at the perfection. Enjoy!

The Nexus can be a lonely place. With only five on a team, she didn't always see people she knew, and more often than not she had to fight those she did.

So it was always a relief when she was allied with allies.

"It's been a long time since we fought together on Azeroth, Thrall," Jaina Proudmoore greeted her comrade warmly while he was still gaining his bearings from being sent into the Nexus. Thrall smiled at his friend and replied, "Indeed it has, Jaina. How fortuitous that we are comrades once more, even if it's in this strange place."

Urging their mounts into a brisk pace, they rode together into Luxuria, with its desert air and sand walls. "I must confess," Jaina remarked to Thrall at their designated gate as they watched the buildings rise up from the ground, "the magic in this place still awes me. If only we can stay here long enough for me to study how it works."

"How we are summoned? How we come and go from this place without time moving in Azeroth?" Thrall mused in return, hurrying to keep pace with the mage's swift horse as they thundered past the opened gates.

"Or how we don't feel the strain from our countless encounters here," Jaina agreed with a happy gurgle of laughter. "No food and no rest, yet we return to Azeroth as we came. It's as if we're... in between time."

Thrall's eyes sharpened as the enemy team came into view, and only acknowledged her words with a distracted nod as he sized up Uther the Lightbringer at the forefront of the enemy line. The paladin shrugged his shoulders in a silent greeting to the young mage, his ally-turned-adversary, and sniffed disdainfully at the orc by her side, before raising his hammer to call forth the Light. Jaina sighed as she started summoning her own ice magic, while Thrall rushed forward, his Chain Lightning already preceding him. The fighting had begun again.

* * *

"That was too close for comfort," Jaina murmured, her heart still racing quickly as she used her Hearthstone to return to the Nexus, feeling its energies rapidly healing her wounds. A split second later, Thrall materialized at the magical portal as well.

She raised her eyebrows as she readied to leave. WIth his Frostwolf resilience, he could surely have lasted longer, unless... "Mana?"

"Mana," Thrall confirmed, mounting up as well. "My thanks for that Blizzard. You stayed even though you're injured."

She smiled in acceptance. "Not any more. And your wolf spirit made an opening for the attack. It was too irresistible an opportunity for me to miss." Setting off once more, Jaina wondered aloud, "Where do you think--"

She was interrupted by a loud gong sound that suddenly vibrated throughout Luxuria.

 _The temples._

The two friends exchanged but a glance and a nod, and together, they abandoned their previous position and raced their allies to the awakening temple, mentally preparing their spells as ten heroes converged onto the Sun Temple, breaking into the first all-out brawl of the war. Thrall roared, Windfury in his blood as he bore down on Uther with the help of Sonya as she latched onto the paladin, slashing in a whirlwind of fury. Between them and Jaina's Blizzard, he was quickly finished off when similar sharp pieces of ice rained down on both melee fighters.

Sonya almost frothed at her mouth. "Jaina! What in--"

But Jaina shook her head frantically even as she let loose a Cone of Cold towards a guitar-slamming ETC. "It wasn't me! It's _her,_ " she yelled, pointing at her lookalike.

Thrall almost groaned out loud, if he wasn't suddenly set upon by another twin - Sonya this time - covering for ETC's frantic retreat. Only Li Li's Healing Brew saved him from certain death, as - oh great - their own ETC finally made his appearance.

"Ooooo yeah!" the tauren crowed as he slide across the temple's floor, neatly shouldering one of the temple's guardians on his way to smack opposing Sonya in the face with his guitar, following up with a Face Melt for the coup-de-grace. And then shamelessly played a Guitar Solo to celebrate his victory, as Jaina's twin fled at the realization that she was outnumbered.

Shaking her head and turning her attention to the rest of the remaining temple guardians, Jaina yelped in surprise as she was hit from behind by a--

"Tank missile!" Sonya snarled, throwing out her Ancient Spear at the siege mode Sgt Hammer whom had been cloaked, with Thrall hot on her heels with a Feral Spirit to cut off any avenues of escape as Li Li dumped her Healing Brew all over Jaina. Only managing to yell a thanks as she and ETC teamed up to fend off the guardians, the group reunited and heaved a sigh of relief when the temple's magic finally died.

"We should probably leave before they return for an ambush," Li Li's young voice piped up, electing to drink the last remains of her Brew before discreetly hiding behind the nearest bush to use her Hearthstone for an instant getaway. The rest, recognizing the wisdom in the young pandaren's words, mounted up and dispersed from the temple. Thrall's silent thanks to the ancestors for a battle well fought was suddenly interrupted by Jaina uncharacteristically declaring out loud, "And really, how are we actually in two places at once in here? That's what I really want to find out!"

Thrall tried to imagine what he would do if he ever met an exact copy of himself trying to kill him while in Azeroth. He gave up pretty quickly with only a short bark of laughter that nearly startled his riding companion. No, surely this was only the wondrous, illogical magic of the Nexus. He was who he was.

* * *

He was only gone for a moment to refresh himself at the nearest fountain, but he returned just in time to see Jaina perish, screaming, with her Water Elemental futilely continuing to attack the - ancestors help him - the _entire_ group of opposing heroes, even the slow-moving Sgt Hammer. Yelling a battle cry, Thrall slammed the ground with the Doomhammer, splitting the earth and neatly separating the group, sending flecks of the hard earth into their skins. He followed up quickly  with Windfury, Chain Lightning and managed to get enemy ETC down. He then tried to set upon Uther before he could come out of the daze of his Sundering, when Uther raised his hammer to heal himself.

_Out of time._

The Hammer of Justice only stunned him for two seconds, but it was two seconds too long, as he, like his friend before him, collapsed under a barrage of attacks from four different directions.

Jaina was waiting for him when he resurfaced from the Nexus, being brought back once again to finish this ceaseless battle.

"You didn't," she said, one eyebrow raised. Her tone was mildly disapproving, her mischievous eyes anything but.

"I did," he deadpanned back. Then, in a tone far more serious, he asked, "You did the same during our last battle, did you not?"

The slight curve of her lips was the only answer he needed, as they set forth yet again into the desert.

_War makes surprising allies and friends._

Then again, perhaps all they needed was a gentle push in the right direction.

* * *

They were both within sight of the enemy's serpent throne when it crumbled to reveal the token of their victory, with Jaina's water elemental still happily spitting waterjets at the remaining enemy minions within range as the fight between the heroes ceased at last.

Li Li excitedly jumped up and down and mentioned something about telling her uncle Chen all about this while ETC jammed his trademark victory song. Sonya glared impatiently at the heavens, already bored with the allies she barely knew from a world she'd never been in.

"One of these days, I am going to find out why I can't use fire, polymorph, or teleportation in here," grumbled the blonde mage good-naturedly, while she adjusted the hood of her purple cape delicately.

Thrall chuckled - a good thing his connection to the elements were intact - when Sonya cried "FINALLY" before disappearing in the same lightning that heralded each arrival and departure in the Nexus.

Witnessing the departures of their other two allies, they then bid each other farewell in their usual manner, with him raising his hammer in answer to her staff.

"Till we next meet, Jaina Proudmoore," he rumbled tenderly. 

She nodded in acknowledgement, and intoned, "May we once again fight on the same side, Thrall." 

And then they were whisked away again, leaving behind only the confused, suddenly masterless water elemental to sink into the vanishing desert sand.

_\- Finis -_


End file.
